Kumu Hina Press Kit June.pages

Press Contact:
Joe Wilson
Qwaves
[email protected]
808 629 9864
Haleiwa, Hawai’i
Sales:
Jeffrey Winter
The Film Collaborative
[email protected]
323 207 8321
Los Angeles, California
Festivals
Dean Hamer
[email protected]
808 629 9895
58-125C Iwia Pl
Haleiwa, HI 96712
KUMU HINA
OVERVIEW
Kumu Hina is a powerful feature documentary about the struggle to
maintain Pacific Islander culture and values within the Westernized
society of modern day Hawaiʻi. It is told through the lens of an
extraordinary Native Hawaiian who is both a proud and confident māhū,
or transgender woman, and an honored and respected kumu, or teacher,
cultural practitioner, and community leader. !
SYNOPSIS
Imagine a world where a little boy can grow up to be the woman of his
dreams, and a young girl can rise to become a leader among men.
Welcome to Kumu Hina's Hawai'i.
During a momentous year in her life in modern Honolulu, Hina Wong-Kalu, a
Native Hawaiian māhū, or transgender, teacher uses traditional culture to
inspire a student to claim her place as leader of the school's all-male hula
troupe. But despite her success as a teacher, Hina longs for love and a
committed relationship. Will her marriage to a headstrong Tongan man fulfill
her dreams? As Hina's arduous journey unfolds, her Hawaiian roots and
values give her the strength and wisdom to persevere, offering a new
perspective on the true meaning of aloha.
FILM DETAILS & LINKS
!
!
!
!
Runtime:
77 minutes
!
Formats:
DCP
HDCam
BluRay
DVD
5.1 surround sound or stereo
!
Websites:
kumuhina.tumblr.com
itvs.org/films/kumu-hina
!
Social Media:
facebook.com/kumuhina
youtube.com/kumuhina
!
DIRECTORS STATEMENT
!
We met Hinaleimoana in early 2011 and were immediately captivated by her
presence. Physically large, and covered in striking tattoos, she is easily identifiable to
most as a transgender Polynesian woman. But rather than being cast as an outsider,
as would likely be the case if we were in the continental United States or most other
places, Hina is an important and respected person in her home town of Honolulu and
throughout Hawai‘i.
!
She is a graduate of the elite Kamehameha Schools and the University of Hawaiʻi's
Center for Hawaiian Studies. She serves as Director of Culture at an innovative public
charter school and, by appointment of the governor, as chair of a state commission
overseeing the protection of Native Hawaiian ancestral remains.
!
When out on the streets of Honolulu, people call out and wave to their Kumu, or
teacher, Hina as she is affectionately known, respecting her for the leadership she
provides in educating their children and for being a steadfastly Hawaiian voice on
important issues of the day.
!
But what most compelled us to grab our cameras and begin to follow Hina as the
central character of a new film was her brief mention of an upcoming trip to Fiji to
pick-up her Tongan husband, a man she had married a year earlier but had to leave
waiting while she returned to Hawai'i to get his immigration papers in order. We
imagined that the trials and tribulations of this unusual Pacific Islander couple
navigating the most universal terrain of the human experience – romantic love and
marriage - would be fascinating, entertaining, revelatory.
!
Indeed it has been. We were fortunate that Hina and her husband granted us
intimate access to every detail of their life together, from the highest of their highs to
the lowest of their lows, allowing us to capturing the emotional angst of two people
who just want, in Hinaʻs words, “someone to care for, and love us, someone to accept
us, and someone to give us the aloha that we seek.”
!
While this journey through love and heartbreak has been powerful, it is another,
unexpected, story that emerged during the year we spent following Hina that
transformed our vision and hopes for this film.
!
As a teacher at Hālau Lōkahi, a Hawaiian values-based public charter school, Hina
spends months preparing her students for a big end-of-year performance at which
the community will see how well they have studied and mastered their culture and its
practices. Such knowledge does not come easy to many in the downtrodden
communities where most of Hina's students live, and the daily struggles of their
families are yet another barrier to their ability to focus on education.
!
But this year was special. We were filming Hina daily while she worked with a group
of high school boys who just didn't seem to get the essence of the masculine hula she
was teaching them. Nothing seemed to work. Nothing, that is, until the day that
Ho‘onani walked in the door and asked if she could join the troupe.
!
Ho‘onani is a sixth grade girl who is very comfortable in her own very tomboyish skin.
Her friends nonchalantly say Ho‘o's a mixture of a girl and a boy and that it's no big
deal, so Hina was not surprised when she said she wanted to join the boys.
!
For a brief moment, Hina wondered if it would upset parents or other teachers if she
let Ho‘o dance with the boys. But she knew there'd be no holding Ho‘o back, and that
it was just such limited thinking, brought to Hawai‘i by missionaries nearly two
hundred years ago, that made it so difficult for her to make her own transition from
boy to girl back when she was in high school.
!
Perhaps as a result of those painful experiences, Hina has made great effort to create
a school environment where all kids are welcome and feel like they belong. Based on
ancient Hawaiian values, and traditional respect for māhū - those who embrace both
the feminine and masculine traits that are embodied in each one of us - Hina has
created a special “place in the middle” for students who might be marginalized and
mistreated elsewhere.
!
Ho‘onani thrives in that place in the middle.
!
Coming from the continental U.S. - where our previous film, the Emmy Award-winning
“Out In The Silence,” introduced us to the lingering anti-LGBT prejudice and
discrimination in rural and small town America – and where openly-transgender
teachers are few and far between, let alone respected, and where the idea of
embracing and dignifying gender nonconforming kids is almost unimaginable, we
were stunned and inspired by what was unfolding before our eyes and our cameras.
!
So we let the cameras roll, following Hina and Ho‘onani on their extraordinary
journeys, through the ups and downs, trials and tribulations of the school year and
the personal quests that they each had for their lives. Their stories became powerfully
symbolic of the hopes and dreams that all people have, and an inspiring glimpse of
how being true to oneʻs culture and oneself can be the key to overcoming lifeʻs
biggest challenges.
!
Now, as we prepare the film for its official launch, we are certain that these magical
stories from Hawai‘i will capture the imagination of audiences around the world,
opening up new possibilities toward inclusion, accept and respect for all, no matter
the place one calls home.
!
!
ADDITIONAL BACKGROUND
Although there have been several high profile films about transgender people over
the years, they have tended to focus on the prejudice, discrimination, and hostility
that trans people face, rather than on their abilities and accomplishments. From Paris
Is Burning to The Brandon Teena Story, from Two Spirits to Southern Comfort, viewers
have been introduced again and again to the ways in which people with differing
gender identities and expressions have been marginalized, excluded, bullied, beaten,
raped, and killed.
!
KUMU HINA is a different type of film. It portrays a world where where instead of
transgender people being marginalized because of who they are, they are actually
visible, included and honored. A world where youth who are searching for their own
creative forms of gender expression are embraced and encouraged to be themselves
rather than to hide in fear or pretend they are just like everyone else.
!
KUMU HINAʻs Hawaiʻi has its roots in pre-contact Polynesian culture. Like many
ancient civilizations, the original Hawaiians regarded those who displayed both male
and female characteristics as gifted and special. They called these people māhū and
valued and respected them as caretakers of family and guardians of culture. Māhū
were also admired for their healing skills; according to legend, māhū soothsayers
brought their healing mana, or spirit, to Hawaiʻi from Tahiti many centuries ago, a visit
commemorated by the healing stones of Kapaemahu, four basalt boulders located on
Waikiki Beach.
!
Although it is commonplace to equate the Hawaiian concept of māh directly to the
Western categorization of transgender, the situation is actually more complex and
nuanced. A recent Mana Magazine article titled “Beyond The Binary: Portraits of
Gender and Sexual Identities in the Hawaiian Community” captured some of these
subtleties:
!
“I want the concept of māhū to take itself out of the sexual context, exclusive of
gender. Gender not as it applies to female and male as biological, but a natural,
spiritual definition of gender.”
-Kaumakaiwa Kanakaʻole
!
“A māhū is an individual that straddles somewhere in the middle of the male and
female binary. It does not define their sexual preference or gender expression,
because gender roles, gender expressions and sexual relationships have all been
severely influenced by the changing times. It is dynamic. It is like life.”
Hinaleimoana Wong-Kalu
!
!
!
FILM CHARACTERS
!
Hinaleimoana Wong-Kalu
Hinaleimoana Wong-Kalu is a kanaka maoli teacher, cultural practitioner and
community leader. She was born in the Nu’uanu district of Oʻahu Island and
educated at Kamehameha Schools and the University of Hawaiʻi. She was a founding
member of Kulia Na Mamo, a community organization established to improve the
quality of life for māhū wahine (transgender women). She is currently the Cultural
Director at Hālau Lōkahi, a public charter school dedicated to using Native Hawaiian
culture, history, and education as tools for developing and empowering the next
generation of warrior scholars. She and her students have been invited to participate
in numerous events in Hawaiʻi and abroad including trips to Tahiti, Aotearoa and
Japan. Hina also serves as a leader in many community affairs and civic activities,
including as Chair of the O‘ahu Island Burial Council, which oversees the
management of Native Hawaiian burial sites and ancestral remains. In 2014, Hina
announced her bid for a position on the board of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, the
first transgender candidate to run for statewide political office in the United States.
!
!
Haemaccelo Kalu !
Haemaccelo Kalu was born on Niuafoʻou, a small island in the Kingdom of Tonga. He
has two brothers, and his parents are farmers and active in the Church of Tonga.
Hema attended school in the capital city of Nukuʻalofa, then spent two years in the
Tongan Army. He met Hinaleimoana Wong-Kalu while employed as a bank guard
there. Following their marriage and a one year wait in Fiji, where the U.S. Consulate
for the area is located, Hema and his wife came to Honolulu, where he is currently
employed at the ʻIolani Palace. The couple recently celebrated their third wedding
anniversary.
!
!
!
!
Hoʻonani Kamai
Hoʻonani Kamai was born and raised in Kalihi Valley, one of the most historic and
diverse districts of Honolulu, Hawaiʻi. She has been a student at Hālau Lōkahi since
first grade, following in the footsteps of her older sister and three brothers, who also
studied with Kumu Hina. Ho'onani's greatest love is music, a passion she inherited
from both her mother and father, and she has studied in the Na Pua No`eau program
for gifted and talented Native Hawaiian children and performed at many venues
around Hawai'i. She hopes to eventually become a professional musician or teacher.
!
CREATIVE TEAM
Dean Hamer,
Director/Producer
Dean Hamer is an Emmy Award winning filmmaker and New York Times Book of the
Year author with a long history in communicating complex and controversial ideas to
diverse publics. He formed Qwaves with partner Joe Wilson to produce insightful
and provocative documentaries about often overlooked social issues. Their films
have been supported by Sundance, ITVS and Pacific Islanders in Communications,
won awards at over 100 film festivals across the world, and used as outreach and
educational tools by a wide range of community and educational organizations.
!
OUT IN THE SILENCE, the first feature film from Qwaves, premiered at the Human
Rights Watch International Film festival at Lincoln Center to great critical acclaim.
With support from Sundance and PBS, it became a highly visible model for the use
of film for social activism with wide distribution through public television, multiple
digital portals, and over 700 community screenings.
!
In addition to his film work, Hamer is the author of several best selling nonfiction
books including The Science of Desire and The God Gene, a consultant for the BBC
and Discovery channels, and a sought-after lecturer and frequent guest on TV
documentaries and news shows including Nightline and Oprah. In 2011 he moved to
the north shore of O’ahu, Hawai'i, to work on KUMU HINA.
!
!
Joe Wilson, Co-Director/Producer and
Engagement Director
Joe Wilson got involved in documentary filmmaking through his professional work
and social activism on human rights issues.
Frustrated by the limitations of traditional
organizing and advocacy, he picked up a camera
with hopes of reaching broader audiences with
stories that would inform and compel people to
act. OTROS AMORES, his debut film, won the
Videomaker National Documentary Film Challenge. Together with Qwaves cofounder Dean Hamer, his films on controversial and often ignored human rights
issues have won jury and audience awards and
official selection at more than 100 film festivals
around the country and the world, and received
widespread attention for their role in promoting
social change.
!
In 2004, Wilson returned to his small hometown
of Oil City, Pennsylvania, to direct and produce the Emmy Award-winning PBS
documentary OUT IN THE SILENCE. Through more than 700 grassroots screenings
across the country, this film has become part of a
national movement to open dialogue, counter
school bullying, and support fairness and
equality for all in small towns and rural
communities.
!
Wilson is a frequent speaker at colleges and conferences about justice and film
activism. He lives with his partner Dean Hamer on the north shore of O’ahu, Hawai’i.
!
!
Connie M Florez, Co-Producer Connie Florez has many years of experience as an advisor, researcher, writer and
producer of films in and about Hawai'i. Her numerous awards include a Women in
Film/GM Acceleration Grant for Emerging Women Filmmakers, CINE Winner-Golden
Eagle Award, and the Accolade Competition. Her PBS credits include the narrative
films THE FISHBOWL and CONSTRUCTIONS and the recent documentary STATE OF
ALOHA. She has taught film studies since 2006 at the University of Hawai'i-Manoa
with the Academy for Creative Media and produced many award winning shorts and
features for television and film festivals around the world. Florez, a native American
and third generation Hawaiian, is the founder/CEO of Hula Girl Productions and lives
in Honolulu, HI.
!
!
Nels Bangerter, Editor
!
Nels Bangerter is an Oscar-nominated and Emmy Award-winning documentary film
editor with a keen sense of story and an alert eye for revealing moments. His feature
WAR CHILD, which documents hip hop artist Emmanual Jal's remarkable journey
from Sudanese child soldier to international star and activist, premiered at the Berlin
International Film Festival and won the Audience Award at the Tribeca Film Festival.
He won the Best Editing Award at the 2013 Tribeca Film Festival for the critically
acclaimed LET THE FIRE BURN and was nominated for an Academy Award in 2012 for
his work on BUZKASHI BOYS. He has worked with Whoopi Goldberg on a series of
short documentaries for MSNBC's MISSISSIPPI RISING after Hurricane Katrina, with
Dan Rather on DAN RATHER REPORTS, and on numerous other short and long
projects for screen and television. Nels previously worked with Qwaves as editor on
OUT IN THE SILENCE, which won an Emmy and numerous domestic and international
film festival awards. Bangerter received his MFA in film production from the
University of Southern California School of Cinematic Art.
!
!
Makana, Composer and Guitarist
Born and raised on Oahu, Hawai’i, Makana is an internationally acclaimed, Grammy
award-nominated slack key guitarist, singer, and composer. The NY Times calls him
“A dynamic force within the style” of slack key and National Geographic Society says
Makana is “Charting a new sonic frontier with deep ties to tradition.” A student of the
legendary Sonny Chillingworth, his work ranges from traditional to highly original,
exploring a broad spectrum of musical styles and themes that have a dramatic texture
well suited for cinema. A strong advocate for community, many of Makana's
performances are donated to cultural and educational causes, and he was honored
With the Artist for Peace Award by the city council of Kaua'i.
!
Leonelle Akana, Advisor
Leonelle Akana is a Native Hawaiian writer, historian and actress. She serves as
Director of Cultural Programming at Halau Lokahi Public Charter School, where she
writes, directs and produces the school's annual public community performance.
Over the past thirty years, “Aunty Leo,” as she is widely known, has performed in
numerous stage productions in Hawai'i and throughout the world, and has appeared
in many films, including as Queen Liliu'okalani in the award-winning 2009 narrative
PRINCESS KA'IULANI. Akana is an alumnus of the Sundance Screenwriters Lab, where
she developed a script for a one woman performance on the overthrow of the
Kingdom of Hawai'i.
Jerad Greenleaf, Animation
Jared Greenleaf is an artist and animator from Kaua'i, Hawai'i. He received his BFA
from Bringham Young University Hawaii, where he developed the distinctive
Polynesian art style for which he has become known, and his MFA from Bringham
Young University in Utah, where he currently teaches at the undergraduate level.
Visitors to the Polynesian Culture Center in Laie have undoubtedly seen Greenleaf's
work, which is featured in the animation for “Ha – The Breath of Life,” directed by Ryan
Woodward. He also worked with Woodward on “The Turtle and the Shark” (which is
used as the temp animation in our rough cut), and on the animated PIC logo. Jared's
fine art work has been featured in exhibitions in national and international venues
ranging from Provo, Utah to Perth, Australia to Karachi, Pakistan.
!
!
!
!
PRODUCTION PARTNERS
& FUNDERS
Independent Television Service
!
Pacific Islanders in Communications
!
!
!
!
!
Hawaiʻi Peoples Fund
!!
!!
!!
!
!
Frameline Completion Fund
!